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If you’ve ever placed a bet on a sporting event, you know how much of a thrill it can offer. Watching carefully to note how the teams perform ahead of time and then placing the bet when you’re sure you’ve got a strategy worked out is a cerebral joy, but then there’s the game itself, which can often be unpredictable and throw you for six (no pun intended). The final minutes of any tennis match or football game are a nail-biting affair if you’ve got skin in the game, so to speak, but when you are finally proven right and your bet pays off, there’s no feeling like it in the world. Sports betting can certainly be a tense prospect, but it’s also potentially one of the most lucrative ways you can make money if you’re smart and play the game well.

So, if you’ve decided to take up sports betting as a career or a semi-regular hobby, you might be asking yourself a simple question: how long should it take before sports betting begins to pay off? When can you expect a return on the money you’re investing in becoming a professional sports bettor? Unfortunately, the answer is not universal; it’s going to take a different amount of time depending on the effort you put in and the amount you expect to get out. Thankfully, there are always things that you can do to expedite the process, whether or not you’re playing in a professional capacity. Just like any other job – or any other hobby, for that matter – you won’t immediately become skilled overnight. Let’s take a look at some of the things you can do to hasten your payout.

Choose the right site

Every single sports betting site has different terms and conditions that change the rate at which you can expect a payout from them. On some sites, the payout will be near-instantaneous, but on others, you may be expected to amass a certain amount of money before you can enjoy your payout. Read the terms and conditions carefully for each website you bet with. As per the UK Gambling Commission, gambling platforms are expected to treat their customers fairly and with transparency, so if a site is hiding its terms and conditions behind arcane jargon or making them extremely difficult to find, it’s likely that site has something to hide. The speed of your payout isn’t the only thing to worry about, after all; you need to know you’re betting with a scrupulous website.

Shop around

Many sports betting platforms offer beginner bonuses and first-time visitor incentives. If you’re savvy, you’ll take advantage of those bonuses and incentives to get quicker payouts on your bets. Paradoxically, sticking with one website can often lower your chances of getting quick payouts, because many sites – just like energy companies or internet service providers – get complacent if you stick with them for long periods of time. Shake up the formula now and again and switch the website you’re betting with and you’ll see quicker and more consistent payouts. Remember to do your research first, though; the last thing you want is to get stung by a nasty website because you wanted to get your payout quicker. Prioritise the safety of your money over the speed with which you accumulate it.

Take sure-shot bets

It stands to reason that if you want a quick return on your bets, you should opt for bets that you know are going to give you a return. This may result in lower profits to begin with, but it’s a good way to guarantee quick and regular payouts. For example, let’s say you want to bet on Manchester United in an upcoming UK Premier League match. If you were to assume Man U would win that match, that would likely be a fairly safe bet because they’re an accomplished team. You’re also betting on a broad outcome, so you’re not pinpointing which player will score first, for example, or what the final score will be. That means that although you won’t quite have the insane profits you might get from an accumulator, for example, you will get quicker payouts because your result is more likely to happen.

Don’t be unrealistic

When you’re expecting a payout, it can often seem like you’re waiting for a longer time than you actually are. Expect payouts to take a little time while gambling sites look through transactions and ensure their payout methods are secure. The last thing you should do is take up a complaint with the site unless it’s been unreasonably long or they’re refusing to pay out a bet. Read the terms and conditions thoroughly first to make sure you know how long payouts are supposed to take on that particular site. If your case begins to take longer than that, then it’s fair to raise a red flag, but if not, you should wait out the time. You may actually delay your payout further if you raise complaints before the time is up because an inquiry can take some time.

Play for smaller amounts

Making a profit on sports betting means not dropping huge amounts of money on bets. If you play for smaller amounts, you’ll notice the losses much less and you’ll feel each blow less keenly (and there will be losses). Bet smaller amounts and you’ll slowly begin to accumulate a profit. If you spend big money, then you’re opening yourself up to both the potential for big payouts and the potential for catastrophic losses. A loss is harder to recover from when you’re spending large amounts of money, and if you lose big, you can delay the time it takes to start profiting from sports betting. When you’re confident your strategy is working then you can begin to make bigger and bigger bets, but remember to be incremental; it doesn’t pay to make big jumps.

Understand “value”

In the world of sports betting, every single bet you can make has a “value” attached to it. Many people don’t understand the concept of value and their betting careers suffer for it. Value is simple: it’s the measure of how likely you are to make a profit on a bet over how likely you are to lose. A bet has positive value when the chances of it paying out are actually higher than the odds the bookie is offering. You should always try to aim for high-value bets when you’re betting on sports, because those are the bets that are more likely to pay out. Negative-value bets don’t necessarily mean you won’t win a payout on that particular bet, but you’ll likely lose out over time, so always opt for positive-value bets when you’re playing the sports betting market.

Try a VIP site

You won’t be able to enjoy a quick payout at every single sports betting site, because they don’t all offer the same terms, especially if you’re a new customer. If you’re looking for the best possible treatment in terms of sports betting – from payout to overall user experience – then it might be a good idea to try a VIP betting site. There, you’ll be given preferential treatment and benefit from premium perks that most customers to that site won’t get. VIP accounts maximise your rewards as long as you’re making consistent deposits, so they’re not appropriate for you if you’re just going to engage with online sports betting on a casual basis. If, however, you’re looking to regularly place bets and try to make a consistent profit, a VIP account is more than worth it.

Don’t get biased

It’s definitely going to take longer for you to make a profit on sports betting if you allow personal bias to seep into your strategy. If you’re passionate about sports, as many of us are, then it’s totally natural to love a particular team and want them to succeed. However, when you’re betting on sports, you have to discard that bias, because wanting a team to win and understanding the probability that they actually will are two completely different things. Make sure that your sports betting strategy isn’t accidentally incorporating some kind of personal bias on your part. That’ll slow down the rate at which you can start raking in profit because you’ll be making poor decisions far more often than you should be.

Follow the stats

In order to shed your personal bias, one of the best things you can do is to follow the stats consistently. Sites like ESPN and Sky Sports are essential portals for sports bettors, because they’ll bring you up-to-the-minute coverage and news about teams, players, and individual circumstances. Those stats are how you’ll judge the best sports bets to make and which ones to stay away from. If you go into bets without the necessary knowledge, you’ll quickly realise how easily-outclassed you are. Go into every bet armed with knowledge and you’ll make profit much more quickly. Take it from us: knowing your stats isn’t geeky, especially when it comes to sport. It’s a surefire way to guarantee more money for you.